Thread: Dark Paint Voids Warranties

Outside doors a subject to a lot of heat if in direct sun light, dark colours may exceed the heat rating of their glue(possibly a thermoset glue).

If the door was in full sun all day and a dark colour I could just about see it could be an issue. The door gets the sun only late in the day, but as you can see in the picture it is hardly dark.

My point though is about the principle of the whole thing, if the glue the manufactures are using breaks down under certain conditions should there not be a big sticker on it when you buy it. DO NOT PAINT THIS DOOR WITH THE FOLLOWING COLOURS AND/OR SHADES.

Of course changing glues might also be a good idea.

I used to work for a renovation trade store and it was highly recommended to paint doors a light colour as dark colours absorb more heat resulting in timber movement, mainly shrinkage. And as above warranties are void if you didnt follow the policy. Each door sold had a sheet explaining this and was at your own risk if you chose to paint the door a dark colour.

If its still a problem, It might not a bad idea to go with an aluminium door. Might not be as pretty, but they dont tend to crack like timber ones.

I have replaced doors that have literary fallen to pieces with dark color in direct sunlight. Try touching a dark color car parked in the sun. If you wish to keep the color scheme I would try a solid timber door with either glass or timber panels
les

This is an interesting topic.

If you look at the picture of the house I would hardly call it a dark colour. This brings me to the issue of what constitutes "dark". Is there a cut off point where light/medium becomes dark.

This is the first time I have come across this, given that we live in Tasmania and it is winter, I'm finding the excuse of the paint colour causing the door to expand a little hard to take.

I understand your dilemma and I think under the circumstances, the builder should make the point clear to their customers that certain colours will void any warranty on exterior doors, when the customer is making colour choices.
I have been painting tiled and metal roofs in Australia for a number of years and the paints are guaranteed to the painter by the manufacturer if applied under the correct conditions and in the right manner to a properly prepared surface.
The roof, as you know, takes the most extreme heat of all the house and in my experience (over 40 years) in painting roofs, no paint manufacturers put any restrictions on any of their colour range. All colours carried the same guarantee.
Having said that, I am still amazed at how many people in this country choose to have a black or charcoal grey roof colour. These colours reach unbelievable temps in the summer months and of course will not last as long as the lighter colours which actually reflect heat.
As mentioned in a post above, touch a dark coloured car when its out in the direct sun and then touch a white car and you will see the difference for yourself. Hence, so many house roofs, in the old days were painted with Aluminium or Silver Frost paint, to reflect the heat.
My advice to anyone for exterior painting that will be exposed to the direct sun in summer, is to use light colours. The paint will not only last longer but the interior of the home will be much cooler. As for when does a colour become a light or dark colour. I guess that is in the eyes of the beholder. Looking at the colour of the doors in the picture, I would say that the colour is in the mid range of colours, not dark.

I fully understand the colour/heat issues (I was an optical engineer in my past), and can appreciate how it would effect colourbond roofs, cars etc. However I am not convinced with this business with painting doors.

There are thousands of black doors all over the world that have been in place for decades and not cracked one bit. We had a black door for years in the UK that was in full sun all day. The door we have at our house is in full sun and is a very dark red, this has not cracked or moved in any way.

Modern glues are stronger than the actual wood these days, why would a door split along a join because of the paint. To me it is a badly designed product using inferior materials and the paint thing is basically trying to cop out.

Firstly, I don't think any reasonable person would consider your daughter's mid grey colour "dark". Secondly cracking is at best a major aesthetic defect and as such the manufacurer has a duty of care to advise the buyer; not buried on their website, but up front on the product itself.

I wonder if the cracking is not the result of shrinkage. When it's very cold, the absolute humidity can be quite low & the wood dries out. Add some heating inside, and the relative humidity plummets.

Are the doors primed and painted on the top & bottom surfaces? This could be where the wood is losing its moisture.

The door, well doors as this is the second one that has cracked were primed correctly. I don't think there are any problems with getting it replaced again. I suppose my concern would be getting another door and it happening again.

The builder is ultimately responsible so I would think he would try another make.

I still say it is a shoddy design flaw, bad manufacturing technique or faulty materials (glue). I will in future be very careful to avoid this door manufacturer from now on, and I'll tell anyone I know.

Just wondering what timber they are using for the doors? If its treated pine, its more likely to crack/move than say something like cedar, which is alot more stable for joinery.

Originally Posted by Stubchain

I still say it is a shoddy design flaw, bad manufacturing technique or faulty materials (glue).

I am not disagreeing with you.

Over here in NZ door manufacturers will not warrant a door painted black.

Rhys

Originally Posted by Hobbyhorse

Over here in NZ door manufacturers will not warrant a door painted black.

Rhys

I assume you mean a timber door?